PDP ‘Crisis’ Over Soon - Gov Diri

Bayelsa state Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has expressed the conviction that the feud within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would soon become a thing of the past.

Senator Diri stated this on Sunday during the PDP South-South Zonal Stakeholders meeting at the Ibom Hall in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State ahead of the party’s presidential campaign flag-off on Monday.

The Bayelsa governor, who described the PDP as a big family that has held sway in the South-South geo-political zone, noted that in such large families there were bound to be disagreements.

His words: "South-South is the only zone that has a preponderance of PDP governors. Therefore,  it should be the zone to kick-off the PDP presidential campaign. 

“We have also been lucky to produce the vice presidential candidate. 

"PDP will continue to demonstrate strength in the six states of the South-South. Our party is a big family and in any of such families, it is normal to have differences. I strongly believe that the differences would be settled soon and we will come back as one indivisible party.

"Our region is blessed with human and material resources as well as politically and we will continue to add value to Nigeria and the party."

In his remarks, the PDP Vice Presidential candidate and Governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, said the essence of the meeting was to strategise on how to mobilise the people at all levels to ensure a landslide victory for the party in next year's general election.

Senator Okowa also acknowledged the role of the PDP governors in development of the region, stressing that time had come for the party to rescue the country from insecurity and economic downturn.

Also speaking, the Director General of the PDP Presidential Campaign and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, noted that with the impressive turnout of stakeholders at the meeting, it was a clear indication that the party was ready to clinch victory in 2023.

According to him, the outcome of the Edo and Osun elections was a clear testimony that the PDP was the party to reckon with in the election.

In his contribution, Chairman of the Presidential Campaign Council and Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, described the PDP as the pillar of the South-South region

Mr. Emmanuel underscored the need to go into the election as a strong team not only to make a strong impact but also to ensure that the party took over the leadership of the country in order to reposition the economy.

Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, former governors of Edo, Chief Lucky Igbinedion, Cross River, Senator Liyel Imoke, Rivers State, Celestine Omehia, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Tom Ikimi, were among party leaders that delivered goodwill messages at the meeting.

Northwest Ireland: Seven Killed In Petrol Station Blast

By Ebi Kesiena

Seven people have been killed in an explosion at a petrol station in County Donegal in Ireland’s northwest, police said on Saturday.

The Garda Siochana police force said eight people were hospitalised as “the search and recovery for further fatalities continue” at the site in the village of Creeslough.

Rescue efforts by Ireland’s emergency services went on through the night at the scene where on Friday afternoon an explosion had ripped through a petrol station forecourt and the facade of a nearby apartment complex.

Ireland’s police, fire, ambulance service, and coast guard, and the air ambulance service from Northern Ireland as well as a specialist team from the UK-run province were in attendance.

Letterkenny University Hospital, 24 kilometres (15 miles) from the explosion was placed on an emergency footing as it said in a statement it was dealing with “multiple injuries”.

Ireland’s Premier Micheal Martin said in a statement that his “thoughts and prayers are today with those who have lost their lives, and those injured in the devastating explosion”.

“People across this island will be numbed by the same sense of shock and utter devastation as the people of Creeslough at this tragic loss of life,” 

Also, thanking members of the emergency services who are working throughout the night in extremely traumatic circumstances.

Israel: Authorities Discover Bodies Of 2 Soldiers Killed In Independence War 74 Years Ago

Enyichukwu Enemanna 

The Israel Defense Forces, IDF on Friday announced it has identified the remains of two troops killed at the war front with Egyptian forces during the War of Independence, over 74 years after their deaths.

Yitzhak Rubinstein and Binyamin Aryeh Eisenberg, both members of the Palmach, were among the troops who defended Kibbutz Yad Mordechai from an Egyptian attack in May 1948, days after Israel declared independence.

The two, along with Palmach medic Livka Shefer, were captured by the Egyptians while Eisenberg was evacuated on a stretcher to a nearby kibbutz. It was unknown where they were taken and in 1952 they were recognized as fallen soldiers whose remains are missing.

According to the military, Shefer’s body was found in the village of Majdal (today Ashkelon) in 1949 and then moved to a mass grave in Kibbutz Nitzanim, where it was identified four years ago.

Citing an “intensive investigation” it conducted over the past decade, the IDF said it determined that the remains of Rubinstein and Eisenberg were similarly buried at Nitzanim, without further elaborating.

The military said their relatives were informed Friday morning of the development by Maj. Gen. Yaniv Assor, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate.

With the latest development, the names of Eisenberg and Rubenstein will be added to the memorial at Nitzanim, as was Shefer’s. A ceremony is due to be held in the coming weeks.

“Every Hebrew mother should know that we will not give up until all the children of Israel are returned to their graves and we’ve revealed the burial places of those martyrs whose burial places are unknown,” Assor said in a statement. “Today, the State of Israel and the IDF have fulfilled its moral obligation in establishing the burial sites of Benjamin Aryeh Eisenberg and Yitzhak Rubenstein.”

Eisenberg, born in Poland, 1927, moved to Mandatory Palestine in 1946. Shortly after, he enlisted in the Palmach, the elite fighting unit of the pre-state Haganah militia. Rubinstein, who was born in Ukraine in 1913, joined the Palmach after arriving on a refugee boat in 1938.

The IDF said both were killed in battle on May 24, 1948.

Shefer, Rubinstein and Eisenberg have all been awarded ranks posthumously, as there was not yet an IDF to be part of when they were alive.

With few exceptions, the military continues to search for the bodies of soldiers whose burial places are unknkown, sometimes decades after their death.

South Africa: Ex-President Jacob Zuma Freed From Prison

Former South African President Jacob Zuma has been set free following the expiry of his prison sentence for contempt of court, a government department said on Friday.

Zuma received a 15-month sentence last year after he ignored instructions to participate in a corruption inquiry, thereby committing a court contempt. 

He handed himself in on July 7 last year to begin his sentence, which led to the worst violence South Africa had seen in years as his angry supporters took to the streets.

In a statement, Zuma said he felt relieved to be a free man and thanked his supporters.

"The... messages of support on social media and other platforms kept me strong and focused on ensuring that those who wanted to break my spirit and resolve do not succeed," he said.

Zuma was released on medical parole in September 2021. But in December, the high court set aside the parole decision and ordered him to return to jail. Zuma appealed the ruling and remained on parole pending the appeal outcome.

His appeal had not been determined by the time his sentence expired.

"Mr Zuma complied with his conditions for medical parole as set out during his placement," the Correctional Services department said in a statement.

"All administrative processes have now been concluded and the sentence expiry date marks the end of him serving his sentence under community corrections."

We Have $310 Million Economic Reform Funding Agreement With Rwanda — IMF

Enyichukwu Enemanna 

The International Monetary Fund said on Friday that it had reached a staff-level agreement for a 36-month Policy Coordination Instrument (PCI) and Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) to support Rwanda’s economic policies and reforms with $310 million  and help it build resilience against climate change.

Rwanda is the first African country to reach a staff-level agreement to access the Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) 

Rwanda's gross domestic product is forecast to grow 6.8% in 2022, the IMF said in a statement, higher than the 6% it predicted in June.

The funding agreement is subject to approval by the IMF's executive board, which is scheduled to consider it in December this year.

The IMF said a mission to the East African country had discussed reforms to strengthen the fiscal framework, sustain effective forward-looking monetary policy and mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Addressing high inflation, long-term development needs and emerging climate risks remain a policy challenge in a highly volatile global environment," the Fund's statement said.

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Niger Delta: Group Urge PMB To Score Valid Points Before Its Tenure Elapses

The League of Niger Delta Elders has urged the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress, APC government to salvage its administrations and as a matter of urgency to score some valid points before its tenure elapses.

In an Open Letter, on Friday to Solomon Lalong, Governor of Plateau State and Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign, the group bewailed the APC government for failing to deliver on its many promises made to the Niger Delta region noting that this sad development has taken the region backwards in terms of development. 

"As the 2023 general election draws nigh, it has become crucial to express our displeasure with the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, on their failed promises to the oil-rich Niger Delta region.

"The alarm raised by Godswill Akpabio, the erstwhile Minister of Niger Delta Affairs that the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC is on "life support", is a reality which has taken the region aback, and is disrupting the developmental story of the region that is begging to be written in gold.

"The deliberate failure of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to constitute a substansive NDDC Board is a minus in their achievements, especially as they leave office in a few months time. 

"This Gestapo-like decision, has left the NDDC leadership in the hands of a Sole Administratior for too long. This has in turn botched the working relationship between the NDDC, International Oil Companies, IOCs and the Niger Delta Ministry. 

"These bureaucracies are largely responsible for the trapping of funds which would have been used to fast-track payment to contractors for projects executed in the region.

"The East West Road still lies uncompleted. The report of the NDDC Forensic Audit which revealed that as much as 13,000 projects remain uncompleted across the region, is yet to be made public.

"To this end, and as a matter of urgency to score some valid points before leaving office, the current administration can still salvage itself," the letter written by Oyintari Peretimi, the group's spokesperson read.